Sport

Football: Jackson hits winner as Wotton knock Dursley out of cup

First published
in Sport
by Rob Iles, Sports editor covering the Thornbury, Dursley and Yate areas

Reg Davis Memorial Cup Round One

Wotton Rovers 2 Dursley Town 1

WOTTON came from behind to win their derby game against Dursley in the opening round of the Northern Senior League cup last Saturday.

Curtis Mills gave Town the lead with a 20-yard drive and he almost doubled his tally with another shot that nearly squirmed under Rovers goalkeeper Eddie Hanbury.

Wotton started to take control and spent large spells in the opposition's box.

Simon Jackson was bundled to the ground from a corner and referee Wayne Millin showed no hesitation when awarding the penalty.

Kieran Frost stepped and hammered home to draw Wotton level going into the break.

The second half started in Dursley's favour and they had large periods of possession but failed to create anything meaningful in the Wotton half.

Wotton were happy to counter-attack and introduced Luke Hadfield and Adam Smith to inject some pace to the already speedy attack and Ross Diment to bolster the defence of Tom Etherington, Paul Eldridge, Simon Graham and Frost.

This paid dividends as Wotton instantly had the Dursley defence scrambling.

Hadfield neatly skipped past Phil Miles at the back before rounding the keeper and his shot from a tight angle was cleared off the line with Wotton supporters protesting that it went in.

It was then Jackson's turn to beat the defence for pace and round keeper Keith Watson before firing into the back of the empty net to put Wotton into the lead and send the Synwell faithful into rapturous applause.

A frustrated Dursley resorted to long ball football to try and evade the brick wall that was Wotton's defence.

Wotton had more chances towards the end of the second half but failed to capitalise and a final flourish of pressure in the Dursley box meant that danger was kept at bay until the referee called time to ensure that this youthful team would progress.

Wotton were the only team from Division Two to knock out a team from the league above them.